This is the second post about Getting In and Out of Trouble as a Local Guide. You can find the main post here or scroll down to find an overview with links to more posts in this miniseries.
Below you can learn how to test if you have been suspended, and figure out if your photos and reviews were made private. The ramifications of these 3 different sanctions will also be explained. The first sanction to be explained is suspension from the Local Guides Program.
How to find out if you have been suspended
Unfortunately, Google does not warn us before or notify us when we get suspended, so we have to figure it out ourselves. There are two ways to find out whether you have been suspended or not.
You can visit your profile page on Google Maps and check if your Local Guides level and your points are displayed at the top of the page just under your profile picture. If your level and points are no longer shown then you are suspended. If your Local Guide level was 4 or more the orange star partly covering your profile photo will also be gone if you are suspended.
When suspended only your number of contributions will be shown. These are not your points. In the image below I have marked the subtle differences to look for.
The other way to find out if you are suspended is to login here on Connect. If you see this text:
and your profile photo is grey, this means you have been suspended. I’m sorry.
UPDATE April 2024:
Suspended local guides now see a different screen when trying to login to Connect:
Furthermore, on Google Maps the page with detailed contribution stats will show with BLUE icons when suspended. For Local guides in good standing, an ORANGE color is used.
Consequences of being suspended
When suspended:
- You can not post new content on Connect
- You can not post replies on Connect
- You can not send and read private messages on Connect.
But you can still read and search content on Connect even though the text says otherwise. You may need to use an incognito tab/window for this. Oddly, you might continue to receive emails from Connect when someone mentions you or ask you a question on Connect.
On Google Maps:
- Your Local Guides badge level will be gone on your profile and over your reviews
- Your points are no longer counted
- You will no longer receive the status emails praising your contributions
- You will not be offered any of the rare perks
- You will not be eligible to participate in Connect Live Events and some physical and virtual Meet-ups.
But you will still be able to use Google Maps for navigation, and you can suggest edits, add photos, and post reviews as all other Maps Users.
And your access to other Google services like Gmail, Drive, and YouTube will normally not be affected by your Google Maps suspension.
Two new sanctions
Since late 2020 I have noticed an increased number of Local Guides getting their photos made private by Google’s automatic spam filters.
If you violate the photo guidelines more and more of your photos will be flagged private. And soon all your photos could be hidden. Hidden photos are only visible to you. Since other Maps Users will no longer see your hidden photos, your number of photo views will stop climbing as before.
The other new sanction is to make all your reviews private = hidden. This can happen if some of your reviews are violating the Review-guidelines. This relatively new change to the spam filters is also not mentioned in the official Google guidelines.
As Google will not warn or inform you about suspensions, Google will also not warn or notify you when your photos or reviews are no longer shown to other Maps Users. And since you are still able to see all your photos and reviews, you may not even be aware that you have been sanctioned.
It’s a bit complicated to figure out how many of your photos and reviews have been made private. The needed steps depend on which platform you use. If you are using a Desktop it is slightly easier than using a mobile.
Before checking how many of your photos and reviews are private on any platform, you need to make sure your profile is unrestricted. This setting can not be changed on a Desktop, so please use your mobile Google Maps App. Learn how here. Don’t forget to make your profile restricted again after checking your numbers if you prefer to not have your contribution lists shown publicly.
If you are on a Desktop use this link: Count your hidden contributions on a Desktop
If you an on a Mobile device use this link: Count your hidden contributions on a Mobile
From the posts above you can proceed directly to Typical Violations.
Cheers
Morten
Miniseries overview
How to Get In and Out of Trouble: The Main post
Sanctions Explained: (= this post)
Count your hidden contributions on a Desktop
Count your hidden contributions on a Mobile
I would love to improve it.